Fariseu: new chronological evidence for open-air Palaeolithic art in the Côa valley (Portugal)

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1 Página Web 1 de 4 Site Map Terms & Conditions 3 June :25 AM Home Contact Us Subscribe Current Open Access Contribute Archive Events << Previous Page << Back to Project Gallery Search: Go Advanced Search Antiquity Vol 82 Issue 316 June 2008 Fariseu: new chronological evidence for open-air Palaeolithic art in the Côa valley (Portugal) Thierry Aubry & Jorge Davide Sampaio Introduction The discovery at Fariseu of a rock face buried by deposits which contained remains of human occupation has confirmed that the open-air art of the Côa valley originated indeed in the Palaeolithic (Aubry & Baptista 2000; Mercier et al. 2006). The dates obtained show that certain engravings (rock panel 1) were contemporary with or earlier than the deposition of layer 6, OSL-dated to c years ago (Aubry et al. 2006; Mercier et al. 2006; Figure 1). This terminus ante quem refers to all of the figures superimposed on this panel. The first faunal remains and elements of portable art in occupation deposits dating to the end of the Upper Palaeolithic, already encountered in 1999 in front of rock panel 1 (Garcia Diez & Aubry 2003), have appeared over the site as a whole in 2005 (Aubry 2006). Three 14 C dates have been obtained for two bone fragments from layer 4 and from a tooth discovered at its base (Figure 2). The two dates for the bone fragments are in good agreement with the TL dates and statistically consistent with the results obtained at Quinta Barca (Mercier et al. 2001; Valladas et al. 2001; Figure 2). New evidence from 2007 Portable art One of the objectives of the 2007 campaign of excavation was to uncover rock panel 1 in its entirety in order to record it by laser photogrammetry and make a copy for the Côa Valley Museum (Figure 3). During 1999, 2005 and 2007 excavation campaigns, more than 70 engraved schist plaquettes were recovered from an area measuring 30m 2. A quartzite pebble, bearing on both faces parallel traces of mineral pigments (Figure 4), further adds to the diversity of forms of graphical expression on portable supports of the end of the Dryas III period. Rock art Figure 1. Fariseu, limits of the layers sealing rock panel 1, location of the dated samples and of the two engraved panel fragments found during excavation. It has not been possible to establish a direct relationship between a block found in 2005 which shows isolated traces of impact and the engravings displayed on rock panel 1 (Figure 5, 1). But another fragment of rock panel was recovered in

Página Web 2 de 4 http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/aubry/index.html Figure 2. Fariseu, view of the site (photograph J.P. Ruas) and stratigraphic correlation with the dates obtained through 14 C (ASM) dating on bone, TL and OSL dating (Mercier et al.

2 Página Web 2 de 4 Figure 2. Fariseu, view of the site (photograph J.P. Ruas) and stratigraphic correlation with the dates obtained through 14 C (ASM) dating on bone, TL and OSL dating (Mercier et al. 2006) in layer 8. Although it does not connect directly with the incomplete figures on rock panel 1, the position of the engravings and the resemblance between these and those on rock panel 1 (Figure 6) allow us to propose that rock panel 1 was engraved before this layer formed. The date of BP obtained by TL dating provides a minimum age for the engravings and indicates when episodes of cryoclasty most affected the rocky outcrops on the site; these correspond to the cold phases of the Heinrich event 1 of the Younger Dryas (Lebreiro et al. 1996, c and BP uncalibrated dating). Figure 3. Rock panel 3 entirely uncovered during the 2007 excavation campaign. Figure 4. Image showing the diverse supports for portable art during the recent Dryas period in the Côa valley. 1, 2 & 4: layer 4 from Fariseu ; 3: layer 3 from Quinta da Barca Sul (photographs J.P. Ruas & T. Aubry).

Página Web 3 de 4 http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/aubry/index.html Figure 5.

3 Página Web 3 de 4 Figure 5. Two fragments of engraved rock panels and position of the second one when discovered at the base of the stratigraphic sequence near the rock panel 1. Figure 6. Incomplete figures of aurochs at the top of rock panel 1 (1), detail of an engraving (2), and comparison with the fragment of rock panel uncovered in 2007 (3). Chronology of the older graphic phase in the Côa Valley What remains to be achieved is to establish how much time elapsed between this (or these) older graphic phase(s) in the Côa Valley (Baptista et al. 2006) and the phase in which the rock panels suffered degradation and layers 7 and 8 were deposited. The excavation of the central part of the site has shown that an alluvial deposit underlies layer 8 (Figure 2). Its excavation, over an area measuring less than 1m 2, indicates that the site was occupied during the Upper Palaeolithic, but so far no diagnostic typological element has been recovered. Continuing this excavation should enable us to ascertain whether this occupation is contemporary with the engraving of the rock panels. Acknowledgements We would like to thank EDP for permission to lower the level of the dam of Pocinho from 15 November to 7 December 2007 and IGESPAR-IP for financing this operation. References AUBRY, T Vallée du Côa, un art préhistorique unique. Archéologia 436: AUBRY, T. & A.M. BAPTISTA Une datation objective de l art du Côa. La Recherche, hors série 4, novembre 2000: AUBRY, T., L. LUÍS, & J.D. SAMPAIO Primeira datação absoluta para a arte paleolítica ao ar livre: os dados do Fariseu (Vila Nova de Foz Côa). Al-Madan 14: BAPTISTA, A.M., A.T. SANTOS & D. CORREIA Da ambiguidade das margens na Grande Arte de ar livre no Vale do Côa. Reflexões em torno da organização espacial do santuário Gravetto-Solutrense na estação da Penascosa/Quinta da Barca. Cõavisão, Cultura e Ciência 8: GARCÍA DIEZ, M. & T. AUBRY Grafismo mueble en el Valle de Côa (Vila Nova de Foz Côa, Portugal): la estación arqueológica de Fariseu. Zephyrus 55 (2002): MERCIER, N., H. VALLADAS, L. FROGET, J.-L. JORONS, J.-L. REYSS & T. AUBRY Application de la méthode de la thermoluminescence à la datation des occupations paléolithiques de la vallée du Côa, in J. Zilhão, T. Aubry & A.F. Calvalho (ed.) Premiers hommes modernes de la Péninsule Ibérique: actes du colloque de la Commission VIII de l'uispp, Vila Nova de Foz Côa, octobre 1998 (Trabalhos de arqueologia 17): Lisboa: Instituto portuguès de arqueologia.

4 Página Web 4 de 4 MERCIER, N., H. VALLADAS, T. AUBRY, J. ZILHÃO, J.-L. JORONS, J.-L. REYSS & F. SELLAMI Fariseu: first confirmed open-air Palaeolithic parietal art site in the Côa Valley (Portugal). Antiquity 80: (accessed on 25 September 2006). LEBREIRO, S.M., J.C. MORENO, I.N. MacCAVE, & P.P.E. WEAVER Evidence of Heinrich event layers off Portugal (Tore Seamount, 39 N, 12 W). Marine Geology 131: VALLADAS, H., N. MERCIER, L. FROGET, J.-L. JORONS, J.-L REYSS & T. AUBRY TL Dating of Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Côa Valley (Portugal). Quaternary Science Reviews 20: Authors Thierry Aubry Instituto de Gestão do Património Arquitectónico e Arqueológico, Parque Arqueológico do Vale do Côa, Vila Nova de Foz Côa, Portugal ( taubry.pavc@ipa.min-cultura.pt) Jorge Davide Sampaio Instituto de Gestão do Património Arquitectónico e Arqueológico, Parque Arqueologico do Vale do Côa, Vila Nova Foz Côa, Portugal ( jsampaio.pavc@ipa.min-cultura.pt) Translation: Madeleine Hummler, Antiquity. Back to Top Copyright 2007 Antiquity ISSN X Webmaster

Baptista, A. M. (2001) - The Quaternary Rock Art of the Côa Valley (Portugal). In João Zilhão, Thierry Aubry, António Faustino Carvalho, eds.

Baptista, A. M. (2001) - The Quaternary Rock Art of the Côa Valley (Portugal). In João Zilhão, Thierry Aubry, António Faustino Carvalho, eds., Les premiers hommes modernes de la Péninsule Ibérique. Actes